This invention relates to 2 and/or 6 substituted 3-nitropyrazine compounds used as sensitizers of tumor cells to therapeutic radiation. It also relates to the process of preparing such compounds starting with chloroaminopyrazines, converting said chloroaminopyrazines to the corresponding chloronitropyrazines and aminating said chloronitropyrazines to produce the substituted nitropyrazines useful in the sensitization of tumor cells to the therapeutic effect of radiation.
At the present time, certain other unrelated compounds are in experimental clinical use as radiation sensitizers. However, these compounds--for example, metronidazole and misonidazole--suffer from the drawback that they also cause neurotoxicity which limits their usefulness. The compounds of the present invention are effective radiation sensitizers, but are believed to have a more favorable therapeutic ratio.